Kidnapped Migrant Toddler Rescued near Border in Texas

El Paso Sector Border Patrol and ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents teamed up to rescue a one-year-old child after human smugglers kidnapped the child. The child is reunited with her mother who was also in Border Patrol custody.

Santa Teresa Station Border Patrol agents apprehended a Mexican migrant family after they illegally crossed the border into New Mexico. Agents took the 37-year-old mother and her 11-year-old son into custody and transported them to the El Paso Station in Texas for processing, according to information obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations officials.

During processing, the mother told the agents that human smugglers took her one-year-old daughter from her in Mexico. The agents launched an immediate investigation and found that the child had been released and was scheduled to depart on a bus from El Paso to Dallas.

Border Patrol officials contacted HSI officials who began a search for the child. The agents located the child before they departed on the bus.

Agents arrested 23-year-old Rubye Ramos for “transporting an undocumented noncitizen.” They subsequently reunited the little girl with her mother and brother in El Paso.

“This is one more example of the callous and ruthless tactics used by transnational criminal organizations that often use the most vulnerable migrants – children – as a commodity by forcibly taking them away from their families to continue the exploitation for financial gain. This weekend a tragedy was prevented due to the invaluable partnership between Border Patrol agents and special agents from HSI,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez said in a written statement. “I am extremely proud of the intelligence gathering and investigative work by all agents involved in this case that brought an innocent child to safety.”

HSI Special Agent in Charge Frank B. Burrola added, “Human smugglers are driven by greed. HSI remains steadfast in our commitment to work closely with our partners to vigorously pursue human smuggling networks that exploit and endanger people who entrust them with their lives.”